Negation - Ontkenning

Introduction


Negation with niet

Place of niet in the sentence

Negation with geen

Use of wel

Other negative elements

Click here for self-correcting exercises on negation.

Introduction

In Dutch negation (i.e. stating that something is not the case) mainly happens in two ways, depending on what is negated. Niet is used in most cases, but geen is used when negating an indefinite noun or noun group.

As a rule of thumb we can say that English ‘not' is normally niet in Dutch, and an English negation with ‘no' is normally rendered with geen in Dutch:

Alan drinkt niet vaak alcohol.. Alan does not often drinkt alcohol.
Alan drinkt geen alcohol. Alan does not drink alcohol

Top of page

Negation with niet

Niet is used for negation in three different cases. It is used for general negation, negation of a definite noun or noun group, and before a preposition.

1. Sometimes, an entire sentence is negated. We then speak of general negation:

Ik sport zaterdags niet. I don't do sports on a Saturday.
Ik studeer vandaag niet. I am not studying today.

2. It is also possible to negate a definite noun/noun group. In both examples below, niet precedes a definite article or another defining word, such as a demonstrative pronoun or a possessive pronoun. In the examples, the definite noun group is underlined.

Dat is niet de auto van mijn vader. That is not my father's car.
Het is niet die rode auto. It is not that red car.
Dat is niet mijn auto. That is not my car.

3. The word niet is also used before a preposition in a negation:

Sara en Simone zijn niet op dieet. Sara and Simone are not on a diet.
Simone houdt niet van koken. Simone does not like cooking.
Engelse cafés lijken niet op Nederlandse cafés. English bars do not resemble Dutch bars.

Top of page

Place of niet in the sentence

In theory, niet precedes whatever is negated, except in general negation, in which case niet follows at the end of the sentence. Compare:

Hij koopt het boek niet (maar steelt het).
He does not buy the book (but he steals it).

Hij koopt niet het boek (maar wel de CD).
He doesn't buy the book (but he does buy the CD).

In the latter case, it is the book that is negated; in the first example, the entire clause hij koopt het boek is negated. In practice however, people are inclined to put niet after the object (definite) in both cases. The same happens with adverbials of time.

Karin werkt niet morgen (maar wel vandaag).
Karin does not work tomorrow (but she does today)

Karin werkt morgen niet (ze blijft thuis).
Karin does not work tomorrow (she stays at home).

There is no such ambiguity with niet before:

an indefinite object:

Alan kent nog niet veel mensen in Rotterdam.
Alan does not yet know many people in Rotterdam.

adjectives and adverbs:

Nederlands is niet moeilijk.
Dutch is not hard.

prepositions:

Ik ga niet op vakantie.
I am not going on a holiday.

Top of page

Negation with geen

The word geen is used to negate an indefinite noun or noun group, and always occurs directly before the noun (group) it negates. Look at the following examples:

Ik ben geen lid van een partij. I am not a member of a party.
Alan heeft geen broers. Alan has no brothers.
Alan betaalt geen geld in september. Alan pays no money in September.

Top of page

Use of wel

When wel is used in or near a sentence with a negation, it is used as the opposite of geen or niet. Wel does not have a translation in English, but in the English equivalent emphasis would be placed on the finite verb (usually a form of the verb ‘to do' is inserted to express this emphasis):

Hij koopt het boek niet, maar Karin koopt het boek wel.
He does not buy the book, but Karin DOES buy the book.

Karin werkt morgen niet, maar Sara werkt morgen wel.
Karin does not work tomorrow, but Sara DOES work tomorrow.

Alan kent nog niet veel mensen in Rotterdam. Hij kent wel veel mensen in Hull.
Alan does not yet know many people in Rotterdam. He DOES know many people in Hull.

Nederlands is niet moeilijk. Chinees is wel moeilijk.
Dutch is not hard. Chinese IS hard.

Ik ga niet op vakantie maar ik neem wel een paar vrije dagen.
I am not going on a holiday but I WILL take a few days off.

Alan heeft geen broers maar hij heeft wel twee zusjes.
Alan has no brothers but he DOES have two sisters.

Note that wel appears in the same place as niet or geen.

Top of page

Other negative elements

Other negative elements in Dutch are niets, nooit, niemand or nergens.

Ik heb niets voor zijn verjaardag gekocht.
I didn't buy anything for his birthday.[literally: I bought nothing for his birhtday.]

Ik ben nog nooit in Canada geweest, jij?
I have never been to Canada, have you?

Er was niemand op haar feestje, zielig hè?
There was nobody at her party, sad isn't it?

Zijn portefeuille is nergens te vinden.
His wallet is nowhere to be found.

Top of page